I was lucky to walk right into some Morris Dancing in Oxford today. The performance is being held as part of the Folk Weekend Oxford 2018 from 20th-22nd April 2018, so I was fortunate in catching one of the last free performance from the festival. Save the best for the last, right?
Morris dancers and a hobby horse, circa 1620
I had never encountered Morris dances before so I quickly scurried off to Google-land to find out more. A Morris dance is a form of English folk dance accompanied by music. I say "a" here because there are various types of Morris dances that seem to differ based upon which area or village the tradition is based upon. Wiki says that the name was first recorded as "Moorish", meaning Arabic, and the dance gained popularity in England by the late 15th century as part of a broader European fascination with exotic dances.
Cotswold Morris Dance Style
The type of dances I came across is known as the Cotswold Morris dance style, which makes sense because of Oxford's proximity to Cotswold. In this style, groups of 6-8 people dance with handkerchiefs and sticks, equipped with bells on their legs to give that extra ring.
See if you can spot them below...
I say dancing, but it's more of a rhythmic stepping and hopping, set to music. It's not as action-packed and as much torso- or hip-jerking as a lot of the dances seen on the street or on the Internet nowadays, and I would even venture to say that there is definitely less skill involved. But the entire thing seems like quite a lot of fun. Especially if I have more time on my hands once closer to retirement age.
Which reminds me of plaza dancing 广场舞 for retired Chinese grannies.
Seems to me like the common love for dance amongst English and Chinese retirees is perfect for the next time the PM Theresa May needs to win over China.